Scientists Discover New Wasp Species ‘Losgna Occidentalis’ in Chandigarh.

Environment

In June 2025, a study published in Zootaxa, a peer-reviewed scientific journal for animal taxonomy, reported the rediscovery of the Losgna genus of wasps in India after nearly 60 years.


      - The new species, discovered in Chandigarh, was named Losgna Occidentalis, marking the westernmost occurrence of this genus, previously found only in the tropical forests of eastern India and parts of Southeast Asia.

     

     

Main Point :-   (i) In a related milestone for Himalayan biodiversity, a new bat species named Myotis himalaicus (Himalayan long-tailed Myotis) was discovered in the high-altitude forests of Uttarakhand, particularly within the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary.

      (ii) This discovery, also published in Zootaxa, was led by a five-member team comprising Uttam Saikia from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and Rohit Chakravarty from the Nature Conservation Foundation. It was part of a broader reassessment of bat fauna in the western Himalayas.

(iii) These discoveries underscore the ecological richness and the importance of continued biodiversity research across diverse Indian habitats.

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